I'm B.L. Ochman, and I've been helping blue chip companies, agencies and associations incorporate new media into their marketing mix since 1996.

I'm a multi-media content creator, live-stream event and podcast producer, journalist, ghost writer, social strategist and producer of socially shareable videos.

Let's talk about how I can help you.

I co-host and produce the award-winning weekly Beyond Social Media Show

I contribute to Ad Age Digital Next, Social Media Today and others. On Twitter, I'm @whatsnext.

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Soul Asylum 25 Offers a New Way to Find Missing Children




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By B.L. Ochman @whatsnext

Soul Asylum's Runaway Train 25 updates the original and adds new technology to help locate missing and exploited children.

New technology in Soul Asylum’s “Runaway Train 25” music video hopes to locate a new generation of missing children, while updating music’s role in social movements. It’s the “milk carton of the 21st century,” says the website.

The magic happens on the website

For the 25th anniversary, the group is collaborating with Jamie N Commons, Skylar Grey and Gallant to remix Soul Asylum’s hit song Runaway Train. “But it’s more than just a cover song,” the website explains, “it’s a dynamic music video, designed not just for watching, but for bringing home real missing and trafficked kids near you.” For more information about the group do visit cccf .

The original video featured real-life images of missing children, with hopes that they would be recognized and brought home. Amazingly, 21 of the 36 children featured – some of whom had been missing for years – were located and recovered.

Runaway Train 25

In “Runaway Train 25”, Soul Asylum is working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). A standard version of the video is available on YouTube.

The magic happens when you view the video on the “Runaway Train 25” website. That video automatically updates itself with the profiles of missing children from the NCMEC database based on your location. It also provides links to share the images across Twitter and other social media platforms. The video also shows ways that pedophiles lure children away, and situations where runaways find themselves trapped.

“Runaway Train” 1993 original

The milk carton of the 21st century

Back in the pre-social media days of 1993, the original Runaway Train video became a top 10 hit on MTV, to which youth of the day (including me) were glued. Social media’s exponentially broader reach offers better chances of the missing children being recognized. Social media exponentially increases the potential reach of the video.

 “This video is a game changer,” says NCMEC President and CEO John Clark in press release. “It highlights critical issues runaways face and will show real pictures of missing children. By creating and sharing this video, everyone has the ability to make a difference in their communities.”

B.L. Ochman is a seasoned Writer, content creator, strategist, and producer of podcasts and socially shareable video interviews. Let’s talk about how I can help your company.



BL Ochman | June 9, 2019 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Internet strategy
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Instagram’s Medical Influencers Can Be Harmful to Your Health




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By B.L. Ochman @whatsnext

Supplements are under constant debate among health professionals.

While they can’t technically claim to treat or cure disease, manufacturers are allowed to list as many possible health benefits as they want. This can make every pill and powder seem absolutely essential — even when it isn’t.

In the market is a good supplement to lose weight, the ikaria lean belly juice, this powdered supplement may help you burn unwanted fat but may also protects your body against free radical damage and ensures to take care of lowering blood pressure.

Take a look at the latest clear nails plus reviews to treat most of the current fungal infections. While there are many benefits to certain dietary supplements, you don’t need to — and shouldn’t — take as many as you can afford for the sake of your health. Only a few will do just fine — if you even need them at all.

In the world of bodybuilding, Trenorol is a popular legal steroid. It claims to help those who want to develop lean muscles without possible serious side effects. Speaking of health, rescue hair 911, trenorol is made from all-natural ingredients and is truly effective and worth trying for hair loss prevention.

If you do want to invest in one or several dietary supplements to add an extra layer of protection against certain diseases and conditions, these are the ones doctors recommend you choose. Vitamin D A vitamin D deficiency isn’t a concern for most people. But it’s still possible you aren’t getting enough of it. Some dairy products and other foods are fortified with the vitamin during processing, If your diet varies considerably from day to day, though, there’s no guarantee you can eat enough to fill your quota.

Visit Askhealthnews for more supplement tips and reviews. The best place to get adequate amounts of vitamin D is from the sun. But most of us don’t spend our days working outdoors like we used to. Because only a select number of foods provide this vitamin, it probably doesn’t hurt to take either a vitamin D supplement or a multivitamin containing vitamin D or Foods with High Vitamin D

You can also search for more information about Ikaria Lean Belly Juice this is a popular blend of ingredients, intended to aid weight loss and improve overall digestion. It contains a combination of natural ingredients, which are all known for their detoxifying and anti-inflammatory properties, check out ikaria juice reviews and complaints.

Influencer marketing is often called one of marketer’s most valued tools. However, the emergence of “medical influencers” can he harmful to our health.

Influencers on Instagram are marketing medications and medical devices for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Most noteworthy: they’re not always making it clear that they’re paid for their endorsements. I think arturoherrera can guide you more about this.

These endorsements from medical influencers give their millions of followers the suggestion they could be as healthy and beautiful as the influencers, if they use these products.

Depending on the size of their following, influencers are paid an estimated $1,000 per 100,000 followers. Instead of print or broadcast ads, companies believe they can benefit from the candor and storytelling on influencers’ feeds.   

Clearly, it’s time for a much closer look at what and how influencers are hawking.

Who’s regulating medical influencers? You are!

Most importantly, regulation is not exactly happening, explains Suzanne Zuppello, in a recent Vox article.  The FTA and the FTC rely on consumers to report non-compliant ads, according to the FTC Advertising Practices Division.

“Using influencers to sell products to the sick can be a particularly insidious form of marketing in large part because of the vague parameters set by the FTC and FDA,” Zuppello says. After all, most consumers certainly aren’t experts in federal advertising guidelines. Nor should we need to be!

One influencer, who is compensated by a variety of brands outside of healthcare and preferred not to be named due to existing partnerships, told Zuppello that some influencers “bury the #sponsored tag deep in the copy or shorten it to #spon, despite the FTC guideline for disclosures to be “clear and conspicuous.” Here’s an example where the sponsorship is not mentioned by a medical influencer:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BpCgMNGneWx/?utm_source=ig_embed
In this example, the terms “Sponsored” #Sponsored #Spon are not mentioned
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlvGrOrnRLC/?utm_source=ig_embed

Consequences? Not Really.

Although the FDA and FTC are regulatory agencies, they don’t fully police their own guidelines, because they don’t have the resources to comb millions of posts to determine which are paid advertisements and whether they’re compliant.

Also scary: there are no real or immediate consequences for influencers omitting information required by the regulatory agencies, especially since every post isn’t reviewed. And even when non-compliant posts are cited, the company, not the influencers, is held responsible.

Important to remember: influencing is a job influencers that are paid to perform. Think about that before you click.

 


BL Ochman | March 8, 2019 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Marketing Strategists Must Have: Twitter’s 2019 Major Events Calendar




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Marketing strategists rejoice! A new must have Twitter 2019 major events calendar highlights all the key dates marketers can tap into  — from the obvious to the niche. And it includes the number of Tweet impressions they’re expected to reach.

In a blog post, Twitter wrote, “If you’ve missed National Puppy Day, wondered how many people are Tweeting about Earth Day, or were curious about the number of Tweet impressions that happen during the Grammy Awards, we’re here to help.”

Here are some of Twitter’s favorite events (that you might’ve never heard of):

Twitter Events for Marketers

Improve Your Business Performance Every entrepreneur aspires to improve business performance and make it better but there is actually a way to do it in just five days. While it might sound like a far cry considering how chaotic some places could be, it’s not exaggerative to claim that workflow automation software can change your perspective. Be it a business that’s already efficient that needs some tweaks, a place where you need to go completely paperless, or streamline workflow for improved output, every kind of organization can benefit by using a business process management software. An overall improvement is achieved by improving the efficiency of each team and this is what the software does. Here you will find more info on employee experience. Let’s see how to Improve Business Performance in 5 days Day 1 – Bringing Your Employees Onboard After shortlisting the best business process software for your company, it’s time to introduce it to your employees and teach them how to make use of workflows. Let them get a hang of it on day one and you may have to keep pushing them to start using it for their daily activities, to communicate with the manager and other teams until it becomes a habit. Day 2 – Go Paperless, Upload Your Files Once your employees know how the program works, its features, and application, start uploading all your old documents, scan files and make them digital. It might take more than a day but focus on the essential files. You can also choose to avoid old files and focus on ongoing work to avoid any delays while promoting better adopting. Going paperless could reduce a lot of chaos in the office environment. End-to-end workflow automation Build fully-customizable, no code process workflows in a jiffy. Try for freeSchedule a demo → Day 3 – Streamline Communication Between Team Members Your employees may have developed a habit of waiting outside the manager’s office or visiting the accounts team to get an invoice cleared due to a lack of software. Make use of the notifications feature in the workflow software to keep people notified of tasks that need their attention. Ask them to communicate using the tool and focus more on their task than wait for approval as it’s now the responsibility of someone else. It also encourages accountability, getting things done in a better way. Day 4 – Find New Tasks that Can be Converted into Workflows After creating workflows and automating repetitive tasks, it’s time to identify new tasks that can be created into workflows and forwarded to their respective department. All repetitive tasks should be automated and a workflow automation program can help you get it done in a matter of days. Once set up, your employees no longer have to monitor them and focus their efficiency on immediate tasks that need human intervention for better output. Day 5 – Witness the Change Workflow Automation Could Bring After having set up workflows for different teams including HR, Finance, Sales, and other areas, employees can now go completely paperless and get rid of the chaos that ensues in maintaining manual records. They can seamlessly communicate with one another, save time spent notifying team leaders or managers to look into files, and focus on creative tasks that need their attention instead of repetitive ones. Wrapping Up Witness the change workflow automation could bring! Cflow is a workflow automation tool designed to do everything mentioned above and more, helping you improve business performance in just a week’s time and providing long-term benefits to bring the best out of your workforce.

BL Ochman | January 30, 2019 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Medical Indemnity Insurance – What it Cover’s




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What exactly is medical indemnity insurance, anyway? Medical indemnity insurances pay set monetary amounts to your doctor for medical costs incurred in treating you. These insurance policies are not qualifying as traditional health plans under the Affordable Care Act and don’t fulfill the minimum required coverage and benefits of the ACA. You can’t get a federal Medicaid match under the ACA and still owe the Medicare tax penalty in connection with your medical insurance purchases.

If you are covered by Medicare, you can choose to enroll in Medicare Part B, which covers hospital expenses up to a prescribed limit, or Part D, which covers outpatient hospital expenses. If you already have Medicare, you may also want to consider enrolling in Medicare Part A, which covers doctor visits, durable medical equipment, and certain pharmaceutical drugs. If you don’t have Medicare, you can sign up for iprivate medical insurance plans available on the open market. Learn more about java burn benefits.

Medical Indemnity Insurance has two main types: guaranteed issue and non-guaranteed issue. In the former, the insurance company will be required to cover any medical costs that are assessed during treatment. In the latter, a health care provider will be responsible for costs that are not covered by Medicare. Guaranteed issue plans often offer flexible benefits; however, these benefits may not always be available, and enrollees may have to pay more out of pocket. As with all affordable care plans, medical indemnity insurance plans will often lapse if a participant goes out of the plan.

Most of Experts In medical Indemnity Insurance or private medical indemnity insurance policies provide a choice between “fee-for-service” and” summary plan description.” “Fee-for-service” plans usually allow patients to get full coverage at one lower rate than the highest policy price. However, individuals must pay a monthly premium in order to remain covered. ” summarizes” plans allow patients to receive a more simplified fee schedule and are less expensive than most other policies.

The primary benefit of medical indemnity insurance is protection against out-of-pocket costs for medical care. Unlike medical care coverage provided by an employer, Medicare does not provide coverage for out-of-pocket expenses. In order to receive the maximum benefits, Medicare must provide coverage for each specific procedure. The maximum benefits of medical care provided under Medicare are limited to inpatient care in hospitals that are accredited by Medicare Parts A and B.

Some of the options available to patients with medical indemnity insurance include several different levels of coverage. Most policies offer a choice between PPO or POS plans. A PPO plan allows patients to use one physician for all their medical care and procedures. This is a valuable option for patients that want to have their medical care in a facility that they already know and trust. However, because a PPO plan can often require a co-payment, some people might find it difficult to pay for services out-of-network. Because PPO plans often cover only a small percentage of medical costs, patients often have to spend quite a bit of money to meet their monthly deductible. Visit
https://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/java-burn-reviews-how-does-it-promote-natural-weight-loss/Content?oid=37442872.

Another benefit offered by many medical indemnity insurance covers is legal costs. It is common for a hospital’s legal costs to be high at the end of the year. If a patient has insurance coverage, they may be able to reduce the cost of their legal fees. Legal costs can run from a few hundred dollars to several thousands of dollars, depending on the circumstances. For this reason, many people opt to choose a PPO or POS plan over legal fees coverage. This is how visishield works as a healthy supplement.

Many medical indemnity insurance policies also include a tax penalty. This tax penalty exists in order to encourage patients to choose affordable coverage. Some insurance companies actually have a tax penalty built into their contracts. Other companies provide their clients with an option to add an additional premium on top of their insurance coverage in order to reduce their medical costs and/or reduce their tax liability.


BL Ochman | January 1, 2019 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Studies
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10 Useful Marketing Tips, News and Articles You May Have Missed




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By B.L. Ochman @whatsnext

With enough time and effort learning what works and what doesn’t, you can definitely go far in the digital marketing world! But success doesn’t come overnight for sure. I scour the Internet every day for useful marketing news, tips and articles. Here are some you may have missed.

    Linkedin is giving an extra boost to people who use its built-in video player to add video to their posts, digital marketing services can make your posts more powerful and offers a great opportunity for brands. Jayson Duncan reports in that LinkedIn says video posts are shared 20 times more than regular posts. However, this only works for videos directly uploaded to LinkedIn. So you can’t just share YouTube videos, you have to upload directly to LinkedIn. Visit https://platypusreviews.com/kicksta/ for the best review to instagram growth tools. How to: just start creating an update and selection the video option. Be sure to add a search-optimized description. Here you will get the best photo services for businesses to boost your business.

    To boost your business corporate video production in Singapore provide the best digital marketing techniques.

Don’t Fear AI It’s time for marketers to stop fearing artificial intelligence and start using it in content marketing.Savaram Ravindran maintains that Artificial intelligence isn’t here to replace human intelligence but to work side by side with human coworkers. As a marketer, he says, it is time to accept artificial intelligence with open arms if you want to make your audience engaged in a meaningful and profitable way, remain relevant, and stay at the top of the curve, telemarketing has become a need when looking to boost your business. Apps like content explore use AI that is already in use for personalization, content creations, content planning and engagement (with chatbots.) You can read the Connect Explore review by following this link an.

Don't fear Artificial Intelligence. It will help us.


  • Content Marketing Stats You Need to Know Writing in Search Engine Watch, Tereza Litsa discusses CMI’s recent report, that only 39% of B2B marketers have a documented content marketing strategy. This means that a large number of marketers can’t prove the value of content marketing to the rest of the company. She recommends focusing on your best performing channel and using it more strategically. Don’t be afraid to focus on a niche audience if you can increase your engagement and conversion rates. And update your best performing older content by hiring the copywriting agency in Singapore for the content marketing. That’ll help you benefit from a seo outsource provider.
  • There are numerous ways to earn passive income. For example, you can invest in real estate, purchase some high-yielding stocks, or buy bonds. Those options require a significant up-front investment, though. That’s especially true if you want to earn a decent income. If you don’t have a whole lot of cash to throw around and you’re willing to invest some time, then one of the best ways that you can earn passive income is with affiliate marketing. This article goes over affiliate marketing and explain how you can generate some cash flow by selling products or services online. I’ve done affiliate marketing on some level for over 10 years. There is a lot to know.

    What Is Affiliate Marketing?

    Companies want you to go to work for them. No, they don’t necessarily want you as an employee. They want you to promote their products or services online. When you do that, you become an affiliate for that company. As a result, you generate a commission for each sale. For example, let’s say you have a blog that promotes fitness. On the left-hand sidebar of that blog, you post a link to an e-commerce site that sells workout clothes. When your visitors click that link and make a purchase, you get a commission for the purchase.

    That’s essentially how most affiliate marketers earn their money. Affiliate marketing is a classic example of what the professionals call “push-through marketing.” That’s when companies offer incentives to sales reps to increase sales. In this case, the incentive is a commission. In case you’re wondering, “pull-through marketing” is when companies offer incentives to customers. That’s a whole different ballgame. The good news is that you can usually become an affiliate marketer without a whole lot of effort. You just provide your business name, tax ID, and other relevant info to a company or affiliate network. Most importantly, though, you’ll need to provide payment info so the company can pay you for your successful efforts. After a short review period, you’ll get the news about whether or not you’ve been approved.

    Approved Affiliate Marketer?

    Yes, you will have to get approval to become an affiliate. Why? Because you’ll almost certainly do all your affiliate marketing using one or more websites. If any of those websites touch on controversial subjects or include extremist viewpoints, companies will often say thanks but no thanks. As a rule of thumb, merchants don’t want to be associated with controversy or scandal. Also, some companies look for experienced online marketers before offering their stamp of approval. They don’t want to subject their brand to greenhorns who might not know how to sell online. That of course begs the question: how do you become an affiliate marketer without experience and how do you get experience if you can’t become a new affiliate marketer? The good news is that not all companies are picky about who they allow into their affiliate programs. Some companies, like Amazon, can afford to take chances with newbies and just ban them later if they find problems.

    In affiliate marketing, four parties are involved:
    The Merchant – Companies that sell their products online are called merchants. Sometimes, in an effort to increase sales, merchants are willing to outsource their sales efforts to affiliates for a commission. Personally I fully suggest working with this professional affiliate marketing company.

    The Affiliate – When somebody wants to earn a commission by selling products or services offered by merchants, that person becomes an affiliate. Sometimes the affiliate is called “the publisher” because he or she almost always uses a website to handle the marketing. Please note that an affiliate doesn’t have to be an individual. It can also be a business, such as an LLC or corporation.

    The Network – An affiliate network brings together affiliates and merchants. You can think of it as a dating site for e-commerce. Some companies (such as Amazon) act as their own affiliate network, while others join a third-party network.

    The Customer – Affiliate and merchants alike need customers to earn revenue. Merchants rely on affiliates to find customers that they otherwise wouldn’t have found.

    Merchants: Who’s Selling Online?

    Obviously, there are countless companies selling products and services online. The question that’s relevant here is: which ones offer commissions to affiliates? Fortunately, there’s no shortage of them. In fact, it’s almost certainly the case that you’ll find affiliate opportunities in a niche that you’re very familiar with. That could give you a competitive advantage over other affiliates in the same space. You can usually find an affiliate opportunity by just Googling the name of a merchant whose products you think you can sell followed by the words “affiliate program.” For example, if you Google “Giorgio Armani affiliate program,” you’ll see an opportunity to earn a commission by selling Giorgio Armani products online. That might be just what you’re looking for if you’re in the fashion space.

  • Unfold the Instagram Story template app that’s taken the influencer community by storm is now available for brands. Instagram, which now has double the audience of Snapchat, comes equipped with a robust set of new features,like filters, clickable and shoppable product tags, as well as engagement tools like polls and questions. Adding an artistic touch and design flair with the free Unfold app sets stories and content a notch above.

    Unfold now counts major brands like Equinox and Topshop among its fans. Users simply add their own photos and text to one of Unfold’s templates before publishing it to their story.There are many benefits to buy instagram followers. The visibility of the post increases automatically with an increase in the likes on the posts. A considerable number of likes on the rise in single post follower’s interest in the business, Followers will understand the reason behind so many likes, and their attention will be automatically increased. This increase in interest helps in business growth. Ingramer increase in the number of likes keeps the page or the account active and accessible. More active the account number of likes you are most likely to gather.

    There are different packages available for likes per post on various websites. This is a cheap and more natural method to get Instagram auto likes. In a few seconds of the uploading of the post, Automatic Instagram likes increases. If Instagram likes are bought and the likes of the user’s posts increase day by day, the audience rises rapidly.

  • Three Secrets for Building Long-Term Client Relationships She’s co-author of “How to Succeed in a PR Agency: Real Talk to Grow Your Career & Become Indispensable,” a new book book of practical advice for early to mid-career PR pros. It reveals “the three secrets to get clients to fall in love in with your agency team.” These include acting with integrity even though there are a lot of gray areas in “doing the right thing” in PR. Part of acting with integrity, she says, is “not getting up on your high horse or moral soapbox and looking down upon others, but rather to do the right thing and gently help others do the same without shaming them in the process.”
  • Lockheed-Martin proved the value of earned media and a sense of humor when they Changed Their Logo to Celebrate the Mars Landing. The company changed its name and logo to Lockheed-Martian for 24 hours to celebrate the landing of NASA’s MarsInSight spacecraft, which Lockheed built.It’s rare to see a big brand with a sense of humor, but this transformation definitely attracted press and social media attention. Besides the masthead of LockheedMartin.com, the temporarily revised logo showed up on multiple screens in Times Square from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. that day and on Lockheed Martin’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels.
  • Lockheed-Martin changed their logo to Lockheed-Martian to celebrate NASA’s landing on Mars.



    25 Women Who Influenced Digital Marketing in 2018

    • The insights of an expert panel at Marketing Prof’s B2B Influencer Marketing Forum in San Francisco is summarized by Dennis Shiao in a report on Leadtail Blog. Definition: “Influencer Marketing activates internal and industry experts with engaged networks to co-create content of mutual value and achieve measurable business goals.” The panel referenced the mutual value between brands and influencers and tied the activity to measurable business goals. Influencer marketing’s human voice can cut through the noise of thousands of tweets, posts, snaps, articles and podcasts.
      "This is Marketing," new book by Seth Godin

    • Michael Stelzner got modern marketing wisdom from Seth Godin on the Social Media Marketing Podcast. The two discussed what is and isn’t working for marketers today, and why. One of the great thinkers of our era, Godin has just released is 19th book, This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See.Godin maintains that marketing messages should focus on improving people’s lives. “We’re getting 30K marketing messages a day, and you can’t just yell to be heard.”As Godin famously said in Permission Marketing, “You can’t just tell people what you want to tell them. You have to tell them what they want to hear.” Godin’s podcast is called Akimbo.
      Awesome Free Google Tools for Marketers by Neil Patel is a motherlode of tools for getting the most out of Google search and social media marketing. Among the ones you may not already be using is Predictive search. Just open an incognito window and start typing your brand’s name into the search field. Autocomplete results will show you how consumers are searching for your brand, product or category.Google Books lets you find books in every genre that you can read for free. Google Insights allows you to search for keywords to see their trends over time. This way, you can see whether a keyword is gaining in popularity, see worldwide search trends over the course of a year to find popular months or seasons for a search, see search volume by region, and find a list of top ten related searches and rising searches.

    I hope you find these marketing tips useful. I will post a new batch soon.

    B.L. Ochman is a seasoned writer, content creator, strategist, and producer of podcasts and socially shareable video interviews. Let’s talk about how I can help your company tell its story or contact


BL Ochman | December 4, 2018 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Banned Christmas Ad Goes Viral




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By B.L. Ochman @whatsnext

In a PR coup, and a stellar example of brands taking a stand, supermarket chain Iceland Foods’ banned Christmas ad is resulting in massive earned media for the company and its cause. It won’t be seen on TV, but it’s gone viral on social media.

The ad, “Ran-Tan,” tells the story tells the story of a young girl who tries to help a baby orangutan whose home has been destroyed to create palm oil. The humans in the forest have killed the little orangutan’s mother and he is afraid it will kill him too. The little girl promises to fight to save the forest, and says “Ran-Tan” can stay safe with her.

But because the video was originally made by Greenpeace, Clearcast – which is responsible for clearing ads on behalf of the UK’s major broadcasters – ruled that it breaches rules against political advertising.

Richard Walker, the son of the chains’ founder, described the ad as “an emotive animation telling the story of rainforest destruction caused by palm oil production, and its devastating impact on the critically endangered orangutan….We always knew there was a risk it would not be cleared for TV but we gave it our best shot.”

The Banned Video Goes Viral

Iceland Foods Banned Christmas Ad


The store’s homepage says “Watch our banned video.”The company took to Twitter on Friday, urging people to make the video go viral. And that has has happened, big-time. By Monday, banned Christmas ad had more than 3.3 million YouTube views, and scores of stories in newspapers, magazines and broadcast outlets including The Guardian, Fast Company, Good Housekeeping and The New York Times. The hashtag #NoPalmOilChristmas also is trending. It’s been shared by celebrities including TV hosts James Corden and Jake Humphrey. And, in just three days, (Friday to Monday) more than 550,000 people signed a change.org petition to “release Iceland’s banned Christmas ad on TV”.

Cynics Call the Ban Orchestrated

The controversy and the outpouring of social media support, has caused some people to suggest that the store knew the ad would be banned. Rachel Cunliffe, editor of City Am Tweeted “I mean, would we all be obsessively talking about their Christmas ad otherwise? The vast majority of Tweets replied “Hey, cynical move maybe, but at least it is amplifying an important message.” and “Who cares? Every word is true.”

This is not Greenpeace’s First Food Fight

It’s also not the first time that Greenpeace has been involved in a food fight over palm oil. I wrote about their Facebook fight with Nestle in 2010. At the time, Nestle bungled the issue badly. A company representative responded to negative comments in a way that was snide, nasty, demeaning, snarky – pick your adjective. I’d like to think companies would respond differently in today’s social media climate.

B.L. Ochman is a seasoned Writer, content creator, strategist, and producer of podcasts and socially shareable video interviews. Let’s talk about how I can help your company.


BL Ochman | November 12, 2018 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Is Contract for the Web The Cluetrain Manifesto 2.0?




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Is Contract for the Web the new Cluetrain Manifesto? (look it up kids)

Tim Berners-Lee – who created the first website more than 29 years ago – has enlisted Facebook, Google, and more than 50 other companies to sign The Contract for the Web. It’s goal is to get everyone in the world online, strip misinformation from the internet and help us keep control of our data. #ForTheWeb #HappyBirthdayWWW

The Internet is definitely broken, and if anyone can fix it, my money’s on Tim Berners-Lee. If you want to know more information then visit korucaredoula.

Contract for the Web Seeks Sea Change

The Contract for the Web begins “The web was designed to bring people together and make knowledge freely available. Everyone has a role to play to ensure the web serves humanity. By committing to the following principles, governments, companies and citizens around the world can help protect the open web as a public good and a basic right for everyone.”

“That vision,” he writes, “is only possible if we get everyone online, and make sure the web works for people. I founded the Web Foundation to fight for the web’s future.

Roles for Government, Business and Citizens

Governments, the contract states, will ensure that everyone can connect to the internet “so that anyone, no matter who they are or where they live, can participate actively online.” It also treats the Web as the utility it has become, saying that governments must ensure that it is on all the time, without interruption.

Businesses must “develop technologies that support the best in humanity and challenge the worst so the web really is a public good that puts people first.”

Citizens must “Be creators and collaborators on the web so the web has rich and relevant content for everyone” and “Build strong communities that respect civil discourse and human dignity so that everyone feels safe and welcome online.”

Decrying the impact of a few dominant platform, Berners-Lee says “The web that many connected to years ago is not what new users will find today. What was once a rich selection of blogs and websites has been compressed under the powerful weight of a few dominant platforms. This concentration of power creates a new set of gatekeepers, allowing a handful of platforms to control which ideas and opinions are seen and shared.”

RELATED
Contract for the Web
World Wide Web Foundation
Cluetrain Mainfesto (first published online in 1999, as a book in 2000)
Read The Cluetrain Manifesto for free


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Interview: Knightscope CEO William Santana Li Talks Crime Fighting Robots




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William Santana Li is CEO of Knightscope, whose autonomous security robots are patrolling 24/7 at malls, corporate campuses, manufacturing facilities, financial services units, stadiums, airports, hospitals, casinos, commercial property, residential and many more.

Santana Li says Knightscope’s long-term vision is “to literally be able to make the United States the safest country in the world, changing everything for everyone.”

“There are many Source For Security which are definitely best to keep good security at residential area as well. Technology is upgraded very quickly and it giving us as result for fighting against criminals and any kind of harmful event.”

“This is a crazy combination of artificial intelligence, self-driving autonomous technology, robotics and analytics in something that’s actually useful for society.”

Crime fighting robots

The company holds contracts in 16 states across four time zones, where the robots are rented to clients for between $6 and $12 per hour.Santana Li says Knightscope K5 can read 1,200 license plates a minute to, for example, pick out the license plate of a disgruntled former employee who has returned to the premises.

Knightscope robots successes include assisting law enforcement in issuing an arrest warrant for a sexual predator, tracking down a vandal, deterring vehicle break-ins and apprehending a thief in a retail environment. And we’re just getting started, Santana Li says.

How the robots work

The robot sees its world by coating it with lasers and taking 360-degree videos while autonomously patrolling its domain. Simultaneously, a human security guard in an on-site control room monitors this feed for anything untoward.

Among the robots’ capabilities are the ability to record license plates, detect people, capture thermal imaging, provide 360 degree video, make broadcasts, provide intercom activity and find mobile devices within a set perimeter.If you get in the robot’s way, it says excuse me. In the event of an emergency, the security guard can speak through the robot to alert nearby humans.

Clients have assigned names to their robots, including Daddy, Rosie, Deputy Metro, El-iot, Harr-iot, RoboDoc, B3PO and Officer Alex Murphy. People love taking selfies with the robots, and some have even turned up with lipstick.

Are Knightscope robots going to eliminate jobs? Absolutely not, Santana Li insists. The robots are not for enforcement,” says Santana Li. “It’s for monitoring and giving an understanding of the situation for those humans to do their jobs much more effectively.” The Knightscope Security Operations Center (KSOC), provides clients across the U.S. with a 24/7 force multiplier effect.

What robots won’t do

Knightscope robots are implemented in concert with both private and municipal security firms and professionals using a MaaS (Machine as a Service) business model that relies on a simple but powerful formula: Software + Hardware + Human Capability.

Among the things the Knightscope robots won’t do: take a nap at work or microwave fish in the break room.

______________

Let’s talk about how a socially shareable video interview will fit into your marketing.

B.L. Ochman is an accomplished business strategist, content creator, growth hacker, podcast producer and journalist. She is co-producer and co-host of the award-winning podcast, Beyond Social Media Show.

Twitter: @whatsnext
Podcast: Beyond Social Media Show
Website: B.L. Ochman
Funwalkers License Plates for Mobility Devices


BL Ochman | October 31, 2018 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

2018 Social Media Guru Update: Gurus Down, New Titles Emerge




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By B.L. Ochman @whatsnext

Since 2009, I have provided updates on the number of self-appointed Social Media Gurus, and other Twitter bio social media titles.

There are more Social Media Strategists, Consultants, Experts and Agencies now than in 2014 or 2015. There are fewer Social Media Ninjas, Evangelists, Pros, Whores and Wonks – but not by many!

Twitter bios are limited to 140 characters, so bio must only contain essential descriptions.

Gurus Still Abound!

Back in 2014 there were 9,303 self-appointed Social Media Gurus.

Today there are still – incredibly – 5,686 Social Media Gurus on Twitter, according to FollowerWonk. While the self-appointed guru titles have dropped substantially, one thing has not changed one bit: guru is still something someone else calls you.

2018 Social Media Guru Twitter Bio Update by What's Next Blog

Changes and New Titles

More than 1,400 social media bios now contain the descriptions Social Media Content Creators, and 12,721 now describe themselves as Social Media Professionals. New to Twitter bios: self-appointed Social Media Kings and Social Media Queens. Some people try to get a head start by hiring a service that will allow them to get 50 followers on instagram, and attempt to grow from there. That is only one of several different ways to approach this of course.

Where’s the Guru Count Headed? Watch This Video


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Social Media Guru Count 2015
Self-proclaimed social media guru count growth slows: new titles emerge


BL Ochman | September 15, 2018 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

9/11 – The Slip




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I published this on Sept 11, 2006. It’s still my strongest memory, and biggest regret.

By B.L. Ochman

The time from when the first plane hit, until the first building fell is clear to me as if it happened this morning.

But, besides my sensory memory, I don’t remember anything about the hours between the collapse of the first building and the time I was brought to a hospital in New Jersey.

At the end of the day, I had a woman’s slip in my backpack – and no idea how I got it.

I was sick with pneumonia and mercury poisoning, and still dazed when, a couple of weeks later, I threw the slip away, still not sure how it ended up in my backpack.

Memory Floats By

Then one day, came the memory of reaching up to catch a slip – silk, I think – that floated right into my upstretched hands after it was blown off a woman as she jumped from the flaming tower three blocks north.

But it occurred to me yesterday, when I saw a memorial plaque on a bench on Central Park, that, maybe, if I’d saved that slip, one of the families would have had something that belonged to their dead sister, wife, or daughter.

I apologize to that woman’s family.


BL Ochman | September 11, 2018 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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